The Obligation
by Jim Oliver
Summary: A series-style book that'll be as close to canon as I can possibly get it while still adding a new morph or two! Cassie and friends get a personal look at what Visser Three does with his free time and have to decide what - if anything - they want to do about it. Reviews feed the machine..reviews equal faster updates! Enjoy :)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

My name is Cassie.

What do you do when the world won't allow you to be who you are? Do you fight it? Do you stick to your guns, be who you are, and say, "Forget you, world?"

Lots of people would say yes. The people with tattoos and those big piercing in their ears and the ones who wear black trenchcoats when it's 90 degrees outside...those people would all say yes. A year ago, I would have sworn up and down that nothing - nothing - could make me hurt another creature, let alone take a life.

But see, an alien invasion of your species has a way of changing all that.

I'm an Animorph. I'm one of six. Five of us are human.

One of us is not.

The five humans - my closest and probably only friend, Rachel; her cousin Jake; Jake's best bud, Marco; and last but not least, Tobias - the five of us met up at the mall by accident one Friday night and decided to all walk home together.

We made the sort of stupid, impulsive decision that young teenagers have been making since the first monkey figured out a stick could be a tool. We made a terrible (but terribly important, we now know) decision to cut through the abandoned construction site that separates the mall from the rest of town. At the point of that decision, my biggest fear was of the drunken hobos and chainsaw murderers that might be lurking in that place.

Turns out there are worse things out there. Way worse.

An Andalite crash landed his starfighter right in front of us. He explained that he'd been wounded in a fight in the space above our planet. His people were trying to protect ours from the Yeerks. The Yeerks are spacefaring parasites that slither into the brain of any species with an ear canal. They take total control. They can access your brain just like the organic computer that it is, and they can read every memory you've ever had. Every dream. Every feeling. Everything. They do a perfect job of pretending to be you. The people who know you best never even suspect anything might be wrong. The whole thing is terrifying beyond belief.

Anyway, Visser Three, the Yeerk leader of the invasion of Earth, found Elfangor, the Andalite who warned us. He found and killed Elfangor quickly, but not before Elfangor was able to give us the power to morph.

Morphing is so many things. It's wonderful and terrifying. It's total freedom, but it's also the chain that slaves us to this war. It's a great power, but in the face of what we're up against...well, its enough to keep us fighting, but even on my best day, I'm not sure it's enough to allow us to win.

We Animorphs are a diverse bunch. I'm an animal lover. Both of my parents are vets, and that's what I want to be. You know, on the off chance that we actually beat the Yeerks. My mom works at a wildlife park called The Gardens, and my dad runs the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic. It's a non-profit animal rescue that my dad runs out of our barn. We take in every kind of hurt animal, except for pet type animals like dogs and cats. If we had to, we'd take them in, too...luckily, there are tons of vets for that sort of work, though.

Rachel is my best friend. She always has been, ever since the time in kindergarten where a kid made fun of my clothes and Rachel pushed him into a pile of legos. We are the definition of Yin and Yang. I'm black, she's white. She's pretty, I'm plain. We're not the same people we were before we met Elfangor, but she's still pretty nonchalant and I'm still a worrier. We've always balanced each other out.

Her cousin Jake is our leader. It's not something he asked for, not something he wanted...which is exactly why he's the perfect guy for the job. He's not some egomaniac who's in it for the power. He's not a control freak or anything. He tries his best to run our little resistance like a democracy, but when things get bad and we're in the middle of a life or death fight, he's the one who makes the snap decisions that could either kill us or save our lives. And it's not like he doesn't understand the implications of his responsibility - he does. He just shoulders the burden with as much good grace as I've ever seen. He's smart, kind, thoughtful...handsome...

I guess you could say I like him. As in like, like. We're not a couple, officially, but I have good reason to believe he feels the same about me as I do him. And that's enough for me.

His buddy, Marco...ah, what to say about Marco? I guess there are a lot of similarities between mine and Rachel's friendship and Jake and Marco's. They've been friends for even longer than Rachel and I; the two boys have literally been best friends since they were in diapers. Literally. I've seen pictures.

I've seen Marco terrified, hopeless, bleeding to death, and still trying to crack jokes. Some people call that a defense mechanism. With Marco, it's more of a survival instinct. In the rare event he ever gets serious, he claims laughing is the only thing that keeps him from crying.

Marco's had a pretty rough few years. His mom disappeared and is presumed dead. His dad sort of had a mental breakdown over it, and Marco had to learn to take care of himself and his dad. I think his dad was drinking a lot, so Marco was left to do the laundry and the dishes, feed the two of them, clean the apartment, stuff like that. I feel sorry for him, but I'd never let him know that. Marco's pet peeve is people pitying him. Another defense mechanism, I guess.

Tobias is the last human member of our group. His body is that of a Red-tailed hawk, but his mind is human, so to me that makes him human. If you stay in morph for two hours, you're stuck in that body. I worry about him. A lot. But Tobias seems...well, not exactly happy with the situation, but okay with it. He never talks about it, but I get the impression that his home life was pretty crummy. He's taken to his new life better than I would have expected anyone to be able to do.

Our last member is an Andalite named Ax. He's the little brother of Elfangor, and the sole survivor of the fight between the Andalites and the Yeerks in Earth space. We rescued him from the bottom of the ocean. We were sort of hoping to find a whole regiment of Andalite warriors, ready to take the fight out of our hands...but Ax has been a great asset and a friend. We're lucky to have him.

Anyway, this chapter of our story started off on a Sunday. Me, Jake, Rachel, Marco, and Tobias were in my barn. As usual, I was doing rounds - checking on our patients, making sure they were all okay. Ax wasn't there because there really wasn't much going on, as far as the fight with the Yeerks. They'd been sort of quiet lately, which wasn't really like them. I think we were all just sort of taking the breather while we had it. We hadn't been in this fight long, chronologically...but stress and pressure and fear has a way of stretching time out like taffy. A day could feel like a year.

We were already falling into patterns, which Marco always stressed that we shouldn't, but even he didn't argue too hard against our now-weekly Sunday meetings at my barn. We had to get together and strategize some time, and early Sundays were about the only time all five of us humans were all free at the same time.

Speaking of Marco, he was pessimistic as usual. "Hey, I'm all for a break. I love this. I actually get to be a kid? Read car magazines and eat Doritos and wander around the boardwalk looking for the world's smallest bikini? I'm into it. But you know good and well that the more rest we get, the bigger the bomb is going to be when the Yeerks finally do let on what they're up to."

Rachel did her thing. She jabbed Marco. Their big personalities couldn't help but to collide every time they got together. "I don't get you, man. You want to relax, but you don't want to relax. You want to enjoy the break, but you don't want to. Make up your mind."

He gave her a dark look. "I'm not saying I want to go poke the bear with the stick. Which you would know all about." Rachel has a grizzly bear morph that she is very, very fond of. "I'm just saying we can't sleep on this, as bad as we might want to. The longer the lull, the bigger the storm. That's all I'm saying."

She rolled her eyes. "Been reading Poetry for Dummies again, Marco?"

(He's right,) Tobias said before Marco could keep it going. (This isn't the first time we've seen this. When the Yeerks slow down on the surface, it's because they're gearing up for something big.)

"So what is it?" Jake asked. "Anybody have any clues? I mean, we all know the signs...weird stuff in the papers and on the news. Anybody seen anything like that?"

Nobody spoke up, but I could tell everyone was racking their brain, trying to think of anything that might tip us off to what the Yeerks might be up to. Funnily enough, it was my mom who sort of showed us the way. Tobias, from his spotter's perch in the barn's loft, called it out.

(Cassie's mom is coming, guys. Keep it natural.) He flapped to the top of a lofted bail of hay, so he wouldn't be visible from the ground.

"...and that's why the Jets will absolutely lose to the Chargers tomorrow night," Marco improvised right as my mom walked into the barn. Jake made a farting noise with his mouth like he disagreed with Marco, and I had to turn around to hide a smile. The cloak-and-dagger was absolutely necessary, but it still tended to make me laugh.

My mom wasn't paying attention, though. "Hi boys, Rachel," she said distractedly, which caught my attention. Normally my mom would have been full of questions for them, like how school was going and whatnot. "Cassie? We have to go. Got a call from fish and game...they've got a beached manta and they don't know what to do with it."

I stared. "Mantas don't beach themselves, mom."

"This one did."

"Why don't they know what to do with it?" I asked, confused. The solution seemed pretty simple to me. "Why don't they just get it back into the water?"

"Because it's got roughly a twenty-five foot wingspan and it's approximately 3,000 pounds. We don't have time to discuss it, Cassie, let's go. We'll talk on the way." She was impatient to get out there and see what she could do to help...and to be honest, so was I.

"Can Rachel and the guys go?" I asked. I heard my dad honk his truck's horn impatiently.

"Of course...they'll have to ride in the back of the truck, but we're staying on back roads to the beach anyway. Come on, kids!" She nearly sprinted out of the barn.

I looked at Jake, who was stone-faced for a moment...then he grinned ruefully and shrugged. "Guess we're saving a manta ray. Let's roll."

Author's Note: Hi! Just wanted to say thanks for reading, and I'll be working on The (New) New Dawn simultaneously. I don't really have time to sit down and bang out five chapters a day like I used to, and when I can't get into a flow, it's easier for me to work on more than one story at a time. I'll be updating as often as possible and I'll try not to leave anybody hanging for too long on either fic! Another note...I'm sure some people have read the series-style fics I've written before, under an old screen name. I re-read a couple of them lately and realized they were mostly missing a big ingredient from the real books - new morphs! I stayed away from doing them because I was more concerned about squeezing the books in canon and didn't want people to wonder why the Anis would only acquire and use new morphs for one book. Then I got off of my egomaniacal high horse and remembered that these stories I write are /not/ canon, lol. So anyway, I hope you can forgive series inconsistancies and just enjoy them for what they are - fanfic! Thanks again for reading, and /please/ take the time to leave your thoughts in a review. They really do motivate me to update faster. That's not a bribe, just a fact -) Thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Rachel took one look at the layer of chicken poo that was coating on the bed of the truck and said, "Uh-uh. See you guys when we get there." She squeezed in the front between my mom and dad. Me, Marco, and Jake hopped in the back.

Marco squatted like he didn't want any part of his body except the soles of his shoes to touch anything. "Two things, Cassie. What is all this crap back here? And second...if it is crap, don't tell me."

I smiled. "At least its dry."

Jake ignored Marco's gagging noises and smiled back at me as the truck bounced out onto the road and Tobias followed overhead. "So Cassie, why is this such a big deal?" he asked. He wasn't being a smart alec, he was honestly curious.

"Well, like I said, mantas don't just beach themselves. They just don't. They don't even go into shallow water unless they absolutely have to, like if there's a food shortage or they need to visit a cleaning station."

"Cleaning station?" Marco asked.

"Yeah. Wrasses and other little fish will eat the parasites off of a manta if it shows up at the right place. The manta gets cleaned up and the cleaners get fed." I couldn't keep from grinning as I explained it - that sort of symbiosis was one of my favorite parts of nature. Two totally different species working together peacefully...it was beautiful to me, almost like poetry without using words.

Marco laughed. "Nice. The Manta Ray Car Wash. We wash, wax, and detail, all in under thirty minutes."

"Yeah," I laughed back. "But anyway, mantas are smart fish. They wouldn't beach themselves any more than a shark or a marlin would. So it doesn't make any sense."

Jake nodded thoughtfully. "You think its weird? Like, /_weird/_ weird?" I knew by the way he said it that he was continuing our earlier conversation about what the Yeerks might be up to.

Marco looked doubtful as the truck swung onto the access road that would bring us to the beach. "I know what you're getting at, but I don't see how. Or why."

Our truck stopped directly behind a news van, and the guy in it didn't like being blocked in. "You mind, guy?" he said nastily to my dad. "Some of us are working, here."

My mom handled it. "So are we. We're zoologists who might be able to help save that creature. You just want to take pictures. Which is more important?" she jogged onto the sand without waiting for an answer and we all followed.

"Dude, Cassie...your mom is so E.R. right now. I gotta save this manta's life, stat!" Marco joked.

Rachel agreed. "Cassie's mom only gets excited over two things - an animal in trouble and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream."

"Aw, we're not even going to be able to see it," Jake complained as we saw the wall of bodies on the beach. The cops had shown up and were trying to hold everybody back...but like I said, a beached manta ray is not an everyday thing. People wanted to see.

Rachel had her hand shading her eyes, seaching the sky. "Come on, Tobias...where did he go? At least he could tell us what's happening."

I got as close as I could to the nearest cop and I waved and shouted. "We're interns with the vets at The Gardens," I told him. "We can help. Can you get us through?" I felt a little ashamed at how easily the lies were coming to me nowadays, but I smothered the feeling.

"All four of you?" he called back doubtfully.

"My mom already went through," I said impatiently, like I was in a big hurry and I didn't have time to waste with him. He thought about it for a second, shrugged, and waved us forward. He called out for people to make way, and we were able to shrug our way to the police sawhorses and beyond. "Thank you," I said to the cop distractedly as my brain tried to comprehend what my eyes were seeing.

"Wow," Marco said without any of his usual sarcasm. "That is one big old fish." Rachel just whistled.

The manta ray had managed to get himself several yards past the water line onto the beach. "He didn't just beach himself...he must have actually jumped. It doesn't make any sense!" I knew I kept repeating that, but I just couldn't believe it. I'd never in all my time seen an animal try to commit suicide...but that was exactly what it seemed this one did.

Not that the rescuers were making it easy for him to do that. Several volunteers had dug a trench leading straight to the weakly-flapping manta's gills. Two heavy-duty water pumps were pulling seawater from the ocean and rushing it down the trench, giving his gills plenty of oxygen. That was good, but even with the buckets of water the people were dumping all over its body, the manta's layer of protective mucous that covered its fine scales was already looking cracked and dry. "They have to get him into the water fast," I muttered.

"How?" Jake asked. He gestured, like that was all he needed to say. It was.

Twenty-five feet doesn't sound like an awful lot. But when you see that sort of size packed onto a living creature, it's pretty astounding. It's the length of five teenagers standing on top of each other. It's big. Trust me, it's really big. The base of its tail was almost twice as big around as a baseball bat. Its eyeballs were the size of tennis balls. Those eyes were afraid. People will tell you fish don't have the intelligence to feel fear, but looking into those eyes, I knew that was nonsense. The manta ray was terrified.

(Sorry I'm late,) Tobias called down. I looked up and saw two large birds sillouetted against the sun. (I stopped to get Ax; I thought it would be best, since we don't know what we're dealing with.)

My mom was one of the people pouring water over it and patting its head, right behind the modified fins that look like horns and gave the manta its nickname: devil ray. She saw us and waved us over. We all jogged to her side. Every step that brought me closer seemed to intensify the knowledge of just how enormous the fish in front of us was.

"We're going to try to slide it back into the water," my mom said, chewing her bottom lip like she does when she thinks something's a bad idea. "All of those hands pushing on it...it's going to damage the mucous membrane and probably some of the cartiledge. Its going to really hurt this poor guy. But we don't have any other choice. Some geniuses are talking about a crane and straps. I asked them if human hands are going to hurt it, what do they think nylon straps are going to do?"

"Michelle?" my dad called. He was talking to a group of large men he'd apparently drafted for help out of the crowd. "Where do you want us?"

"All in front," she called back. "Just stay as far away from the gills as you can, and make sure the wings are supported. If we tear any of its wing cartiledge, he's a goner."

As the guys got into position around the suffering ray, my mom turned to us. "This is going to hurt him, and he's going to thrash. I need you guys to try to hold the tail still. Gently, if you can." Marco looked at her like she was crazy and she saw it and smiled. "It's not a stingray, Marco. The worst it can do is whip somebody...which is why you four will be holding the tail. I hope you don't mind getting wet."

We all sort of nonchalantly looked to Jake, who just as nonchalantly nodded. We went around behind the ray and got our hands under its tail. Jake said in a low voice, "I know of a way we can keep him calm without holding the tail too tight. Okay?" He had a slight grin on his face.

As the big men started pushing on my mom's count of three, we all began to acquire the manta ray's DNA pattern.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The manta ray story made the news, national and local. I listened to the TV while cleaning the hall bathroom. Just because I was an Animorph didn't mean the ring in the toilet or the toothpaste in the sink were going to just disappear. Important jobs can't get in the way of little jobs - my dad has told me that since I was little. That's how things fall apart from the inside out.

I listened to the news story intently, waiting for information. We'd gotten the poor giant back into the water, where I guess he decided he wanted to live a little longer. Even then, he didn't shoot for the deep water like everybody expected - he'd skimmed along the coastline in shallow water for almost a mile before slowly angling away for the deep. It was bizarre. I'm not sure anyone but an animal lover would have noticed or cared, but there it was - the whole thing was just bizarre.

The news story ended and I heard my mom mutter, "You think they could have at least gotten a shot or two of Cassie and her friends helping the guy back into the water. That was so brave of them." I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Not that the Yeerks would have known we were doing anything but helping, but still. When you're undercover, attention is bad.

Even though it was only seven o'clock, I decided to get my shower and get ready for bed. My mind was troubled. I mean, my mind is always troubled, nowadays...but this was different. Somehow, it was worse. To me, anyway. I was almost certain the Yeerks had something to do with it. Animals are almost always predictable, especially in cases of survival. What that manta did was too close to a suicide attempt, and that just didn't make any sense. As I put on my pajamas and got under my covers, I was already thinking of ways to try to understand. The only thing I could really come up with was to morph the manta. Try to get an insider's understanding of how he thought and what could possibly drive him to do something like that.

Jake probably wouldn't like it. He thinks morphing for personal reasons is stupid, risky, and just plain selfish. But Jake and I...we were coming to understand each other better. I thought if I could talk to him alone, I could make him see how it related to our fight. I felt sure that he'd see it my way and agree with me before the end of the conversation. I fell asleep with that on my mind - not the manta, but a talk with Jake. Alone. Where we understood each other on a level that's hard to find in this world. He'd take my hand and smile at me - the crooked, goofy smile he seemed to save only for me - and tell me he understood and agreed. And then, maybe, we could kiss. Just a little one, almost like a handshake to seal the deal...

I woke up on Monday morning still thinking about Jake and the manta, but I pushed it to the back burner of my mind. Regular life had to come first. How many times had Marco pointed out that if we ever let it slip that we're anything more than ordinary teenagers, we'd be dead? So I went through a mental checklist of things to do before getting ready for school.

Three bandages would need changing. Fourteen medications doled out. Rake out the wood chips beneath the bird cages. I didn't even look at the clock as I crept down the hall, slipped on my rubber boots, and emerged from the house. I didn't need to. The way the sky was black as pitch up high but lightening toward the color of a fresh bruise on the horizon told me it was a little before six.

I went about my work thoughtlessly. That sounds weird, I guess, but it's very pleasant. It's peaceful. Oh, sure, when I had to change the raccoon's bandage on his foreleg, I paid attention. You have to. Wounded animals are often dangerous animals. Everybody says I have a way with animals, that they sense I mean them no harm, and it's true. But when a creature is badly hurt, sometimes the urge to lash out is too strong for them to control. So I took very special care not to give Mr. Raccoon an opportunity to gnaw off my nose.

For the most part though, I just existed. I calmly did good work while just enjoying the peace and serenity of the night turning to morning. When I was done, I turned my face to the sun filtering through the barn door. I closed my eyes, exhaled deeply, and smiled. When I opened them again, my dad was standing there beaming at me.

"It's nice, huh?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," I agreed. I didn't have to ask what he meant. He just meant life in general.

He went back into his office and came out with his "evidence bag." It was basically a camera, wire snips, and assorted tools for disarming animal traps. Poachers are smart, and they usually don't get caught. Sometimes they did, though, and my dad's photos of the poor animals they indiscriminately killed or wounded helped put them away in jail. He gave me a hug as he made his way out of the barn.

"Early call?" I asked.

"Yeah. Rangers on the ridge found some traps that aren't tagged. They staked them out to see if they could catch somebody checking them, but no sign after two days." My dad's normally peaceful, kind face tried to grimace before he was able to smooth it out. Poachers were one thing. Poachers that didn't check their traps regularly...well, it about drove my dad crazy. Me too. Picture a helpless animal with its leg caught it a trap, bones shattered, crying in pain and slowly dying of dehydration...well, its not hard to imagine why we hate people like that.

My dad smiled again. "They're going to hunt down and disarm all of the traps, and they asked me along in case we find any victims."

I grinned. "Plus you're the best in the world when it comes to finding hidden traps. You can smell them."

He laughed his booming, aw-shucks laugh. "Yeah, that too. I'm the Trap King. Anyway, I should be done by the time you get home from school, but there's no telling. Would you mind doing the afternoon rounds if I'm not back?"

"Of course. Be safe out there."

"I always am!" he said indignantly, even though he knew I was just worried. It was a little running joke we had. I heard his truck start up and guzzle out of the driveway and I headed back up to the house to shower up and get ready for school. I found myself wishing I could go with him. I had to fight down the feeling of resentment that tried to rise up whenever I realized that the Yeerk invasion was stopping me from doing my real work. I was a saver, not a fighter. I was a healer, not a soldier.

'It is what it is, Cassie, you know that,' I scolded myself as I stepped into the hot shower.

Change the things you can. Accept the things you can't.

That's another thing my dad has taught me since I was little.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

My mom drove by me on her way to work as I stood at the end of our long, dirt driveway and waited for the bus to school. I waved and she waved back, but she was distracted. Her normally sunny smile didn't quite reach her eyes. She was chewing her bottom lip. She didn't toot the horn the way she normally did.

All of these subtle changes would have deeply disturbed our resident paranoia expert, Marco, but they didn't bother me. Well, not in the way they would have bothered him, about my mom possibly being a Controller. Actually, they served to comfort me in the fact that my mom was still free. A Controller wouldn't have been upset by the mystery that was the incident with the manta ray, but I knew that was what was eating my mom. It was eating me too, but for me, it would have to wait.

As the took my seat on the bus, I opened my bookbag and sorted through my stuff for class. I skimmed my essay on the Revolutionary War. It would do. B material, at least. I made sure my pre-algebra equations were all done; luckily my math teacher was pretty cool, he didn't care if you got the answers right on the homework as long as you tried to work them all out. Biology homework...check. I crammed it all back into my bag as the bus pulled up to the school.

Normally, school doesn't really get to me. But the thing with the manta...I couldn't get it out of my mind. The early sun had been covered up by some clouds that were majorly threatening rain, and I worried about my dad out in the steep hills that would be slick with mud as he looked for traps that could seriously maim him. Add all this to the squat, ugly, cinderblock building that made up the school, and I had a serious case of the Mondays.

I snagged an open picnic table in the yard and dug in the front pocket of my bag, looking for something sweet to munch on to take the edge off of the morning. I found a couple of loose Sprees, dusted them off, and ate one. After a while Rachel's bus arrived and she sauntered over to join me. She looked like a model in a Gap ad, as usual, but the stormy look on her face matched the storm brewing in the sky, and I had to stifle a giggle. "What's up?" I asked as she sat down heavily next to me.

She reached over to take a purple Spree and popped it in her mouth. She crunched it hard enough that I winced and imagined a chipped tooth. "Nothing," she said moodily. "Sarah thinks she's old enough to start stealing my clothes, and my mom seems to agree. Nobody cares that she wore my favorite American Eagle sweater this weekend and got grape soda all over it. Forty bucks!" she raged, and again, I suppressed a grin.

"Doesn't your dad pay for your clothes?" I asked innocently. She glared Dracon beams at me and I put my hands up, simultaneously making a gesture of peace and offering my last Spree, which she took. "Just asking," I said innocently.

"Yeah, he pays for them," she said. "But that's not the point. The point is that I'm not gonna find a 70/30 silk/wool blend in that color and cut ever again, and nobody seems to care."

"You can always raid my closet," I said breezily. She looked at me in confusion for a minute, then realized I was making a joke. She laughed hard once she got it; I mean, she's always going on and on about how I needed a serious wardrobe makeover. The first bell interrupted us, and we headed off to our respective classes.

I muddled through school as best I could. Luckily, all of the teachers seemed to be as into the day as the students - not at all. Two out of my four teachers popped in a movie for class. I let my mind wander, and found myself thinking of the stuff that I usually do during my downtime.

I wondered how Tobias was faring as the raindrops pattered against the windows. I know for a while, Jake was letting him stay in his attic, but Tobias had bailed on that arrangement. Every day, he seemed to throw himself a little more into his new reality. He hunted instead of eating Jake's leftovers. He had staked a claim on a meadow not too far from my farm. I think Ax's arrival into the forest had been good for Tobias; yeah, Ax was an Andalite, but at least they had things in common. They were both fighters. They were both refugees. It was the best of a bad situation, and I had to be grateful for that.

Toward the end of the day, against my free will, my mind began to wander back to the manta ray we'd helped to save. What was the deal with that? Why would such a beautiful, majestic animal be afraid enough to beach himself, which was a death sentence? What could be terrible enough to override every instinct in the manta's biological imperative and make him do that? I sighed, knowing I'd never be able to rest until I found out. And I knew I'd never be able to find out without morphing the gentle giant. I resolved to talk to Jake as soon as possible and let him know just how much the whole thing was bothering me.

When the final bell rang, it was a relief. I wanted to talk to Jake, check on Tobias, check on my patients...all of the things that bring me a peace that I can't get at school. And it seemed like my luck was in, because Jake and Marco were the first people I saw when I opened the double doors to get to the bus parking lot.

"Oh, hey, Cassie," Jake said, like he kind of knew me but wasn't really friends with me. I caught myself before I gave him a big smile, glanced around, and saw no one was paying attention. Like me, everybody just wanted out of there for the day.

"Hey Jake. Can you stop by the Center later?" I saw Marco spinning circles to make sure no one had overheard, and I wanted to tell him that he was being more suspicious than my question ever had a chance of being. I held my tongue though.

"Sure," Jake said flippantly. "I'll bring those Chem notes," he added for the benefit of anyone who cared to listen. "See ya."

On the bus ride home, I saw a bird of prey riding the thermals over the highway. I had no way of knowing if it were a Red-tailed hawk, let alone Tobias, but for some reason, I knew. I wasn't sure why, but my stomach tightened a little, the way it does when I feel like something is out of wack. I tried to ignore it, but my instincts are usually good and this felt real.

Still, I forced myself to go about my work. I slipped on my bite proof gloves and decided to get the rowdiest out of the way - the raccoon. He was feisty and I got a good scratch on my elbow for letting my mind wander while dealing with him, but I gave him a juicy grasshopper out of the freezer to show that there were no hard feelings. He gave me a suspicious look, but he took it and ate it, so I figured we were cool. I went about it and I knew when Tobias had arrived from the way the animals in the cages reacted. Fight or flight responses dominated the barn, and I closed my last cage grateful he hadn't shown up when I was doing the raccoon. "Hi Tobias," I said, tossing my gloves aside and waving.

(Hey Cassie. Jake and Marco are on their way; I saw them out on Route 4 on their bikes a few minutes ago.)

I grinned - Route 4 was like at least two miles from my farm, but Tobias had been able to I.D. the guys. Talk about super vision. "Yeah, I asked Jake over. This manta ray thing...it's really bugging me," I confessed.

(Yeah, well, it bothered me too,) he said, lifting a wing to preen as he talked. (That's why I spent the morning over the beach, looking for any clues as to what happened.)

"Oh, Tobias, you didn't have to do that," I muttered. "I know the conditions were horrible." I was referring to the fact that the thermals over the choppy water were not ideal on a sunny day; the clouds and rain must have made flying downright miserable for him.

(Yeah, it was no picnic,) he agreed. (But that whole scene was fubar, you know? That just wasn't right. So I decided to have a look.)

"And what did you see?" Jake asked as he skidded his bike to a stop just inside the barn. Marco was right behind him and tried to show off with a fancier, sliding stop...but the loose hay messed up his technique and he went flying over the handlebars. As Jake and Tobias roared with laughter, I checked on him - luckily, the same hay that ruined his trick had also broken his fall.

"I'm fine. Embarrassed, but fine," he said, laughing a little. "I'm more interested in what the Bird Wonder saw out at the beach."

Tobias didn't say anything for a minute, even though I knew he heard Marco's question. His ears were almost as sharp as his eyes. The feeling of general wrongness that had been twisting my stomach earlier was back. Jake saw me chewing my lip and grinned confidently at me from where he was sitting on a hay bale. It wasn't some super macho cocky grin...just an easy smile that said to me, 'hey, don't worry, we'll deal with it.' It made me feel better and I smiled back, grateful. Marco obviously didn't miss the exchange because he rolled his eyes.

(Okay, well I don't know what it was exactly that I...AHH!) Tobias yelled and was halfway across the barn when I realized a bald eagle had landed nearly on top of him. He realized it was Rachel at the same time I did. (Come on! Jeez! I don't have enough problems without having to worry about some big honkin' eagle sneaking up on me?)

(You should pay more attention,) Rachel said casually as she flapped to the floor of the barn and started to demorph. Even though she was just an eagle that was rapidly growing human legs, I could still picture the crazy, cocky smile. (How /did/ I manage to get the drop on you? I've never been able to before.)

Tobias settled back into the rafters. (I've got a lot on my mind. I was woolgathering.)

Now that Marco was done laughing at Rachel scaring the bejeezus out of Tobias, he got serious. "Anyway. What were you saying before Xena decided to buzz the tower, bird-man?"

(Yeah. Okay. So I was out over the water, just seeing what I could see, you know? I've been thinking about it all day, and I still can't piece together what it was that I actually saw.)

"So just lay out the pieces," Jake said. "We'll see if we can help you put it together."

(Right. Well, the first thing I noticed is this huge research ship anchored offshore. That really really big one from the Black Hole Oceanographic Institute.)

"I read a story that they were the ones catching the fish for the new aquarium. 'Responsible for the humane and safe treatment of future exhibit animals,' was the way they put it." Marco looked around like he'd made a joke, but let it drop when nobody laughed. "So that's not exactly weird."

(See, this is why I think you guys need to see for yourself,) Tobias said. (I can't explain it right. Sure, a marine biology boat responsible for catching aquarium fish shows up around where a manta beached itself...sounds on the up-and-up. But it's not,) Tobias said, frustrated.

"It's okay, Tobias. I believe you," I said gently before he could really start to get upset. "Let's talk about why it was wrong to you. Just talk, okay? We're here to listen, not judge. We'll figure it out."

He mentally sighed. (Okay. Well for one, that the boat is even there in the first place. That bugs me. Why send a 300 foot research vessel all the way from the Institute? They've got a whole fleet of boats, so why the biggest one they have? It looks way out of place, so close to shore.)

Marco said, "I'm with you on that, Tobias. Gas is expensive. Why chug their biggest boat, the one outfitted to catch big deep sea creatures, out off the shore?" He snapped his fingers, as if he'd just had a revelation. "Dude, that boat is probably what freaked the manta in the first place!"

"The boat wasn't out there yesterday," Rachel said. "I remember thinking how, for a Sunday, there weren't enough boats out on the water. I would have noticed it."

"There could be a logical explanation," Jake said. "They could be out there trying to figure out the same thing we are - why the manta did that in the first place."

(That's what I thought at first, too,) Tobias said. (But there are two Coast Guard cutters out there. They're running off any boat who wanders too close.)

"So they're helping the Marine Biologist people, big deal," Rachel said. "They don't want a bunch of wakeboarders screwing up their tests or whatever."

"That's not it," I argued. Everybody looked at me and I blushed. "The military isn't allowed to do stuff like that. They can't waste taxpayers' money on independent research ventures. Not without a bunch of paperwork about environmental impact studies and legal permission. Federal permission. And they don't like to do that paperwork in the first place, let alone fast-track it. If it were a few Department of Marine Resources boats out there? Some ocean Rangers? That would make sense. But Coast Guard? That's just weird."

Jake looked thoughtful. "Anything else, Tobias?"

Tobias hesitated. (No...well, yeah,) he admitted grudgingly. (Its just a feeling, but its strong. Its like a ghost town out there in the water. I don't go to the beach very often, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but its just too dang quiet out there. No dolphins jumping. No sharks cruising off the sandbar. No fish schooling. Its like every animal within a half a mile of that research boat has just disappeared. Its...spooky,) he admitted.

Jake stood up. "Thanks, Tobias. Thanks for checking on this while we were stuck in school." I marveled at how naturally the words came out. They didn't sound forced at all, because they probably weren't. Jake's leadership instincts were right on, as usual. Tobias can't morph anymore, and I guess it makes him feel like he doesn't do enough to help. Jake was turning the table and making sure Tobias felt like a valuable piece of the team.

Jake looked around at everybody. "Well, I guess we ought to get Ax and check this out. Cool?"

"Now?" Marco asked.

"Now," Jake agreed. "Let's get feathery."

Author's Note: Just want to say a quick thank you to those of you who've taken the time to review :) Not to sound like a jerk, but I'd probably be writing this a lot faster if I were getting more...chapter one had over a hundred different visitors and I think three reviews lol. Anyway, not a gripe session. It is what it is. This is mainly to let everybody know where this is supposed to fit in the series. I want it to stick as close to canon as possible (even though I've accepted that its /not/ canon..sigh..) so its set roughly between book #5 and book #12. All of my old stories were set after Tobias got the morphing power back, and I realized that when that happened, the paranoia and fear that got me hooked on the series in the first place were kind of bleeding out of the series. I want to try to bring that back a little. Anyway, hope you enjoy, and either way please be kind enough to leave your thoughts! Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

(On your left! On your left!) Rachel called. (Hamburger wrapper!)

(I'll see your hamburger wrapper and raise you a box of pizza! They didn't eat the crust!) Marco yelled back. He actually started to swoop down to join the mob of gulls around it to get his share before Jake reminded him why we were at the beach.

We were just four seagulls among about a thousand, wheeling and screeching in the sky above the beach. Well, technically we were over the dumpster area beside the beach, but we were slowly making our way toward the water.

We'd all done seagulls before, all except Ax and Tobias, but man! Those instincts that make you see every single piece of possibly edible trash are too strong to completely ignore. It'd be easier when we were over the water, we knew that from experience. But getting to the water...

(Jake?) Tobias said. (You just got onto Marco's case...but you're drifting a little close to that McDonald's bag.)

(I wasn't gonna eat it,) he grumbled. (I was just seeing if there were any fries left.)

(Well I suggest we move on,) Tobias laughed. (The research boat is further out than it was earlier and it'll take a while to get there.)

The boat was a few miles offshore. The plan was for Tobias and Ax to hang out over the sand, where they didn't have to work so hard to stay aloft, while me, Jake, Rachel, and Marco went out to see what they were up to. If we needed backup, Ax would get over water, demorph (he could swim quite well in his Andalite body,) and morph to Tiger shark to get in and give us some water support. I tried not to think about the fact that all that could take as long as thirty minutes.

When your life is in danger, thirty minutes is a very, very long time.

Jake didn't seem too worried about it, and I trusted his instincts. Besides, this was just a recon mission. Tobias had assured us there were dozens of gulls on and around the research vessel, which was called the Martin Swift.

The four of us flew over the waves toward our target. We didn't need the thermal updrafts that Tobias and Ax's Harrier body needed to stay airborne. The seagulls wings are narrow, designed for acrobatic flying. Our breast muscles were tireless at flapping those narrow wings, always on the lookout for anything to eat. Trash was easiest, but my gull brain spotted everything from minnows to shrimp to a barnacle-encrusted barrel. It knew there was edible meat inside of those barnacles. Anything was food to the seagull. Anything.

We heard the calls from our brothers and sisters and I knew we were getting close. (Let's land on top of the helm,) Jake suggested. (There are already some seagulls there.)

The Martin Swift was huge, but my seagull wasn't impressed. To him, it was just a place to rest up for a minute before going back to the endless search for munchies.

There were three guys down below us. Two looked like scientists, which made sense, since we were on a research vessel. The third looked like he belonged behind a desk at H&R Block. I edged closer to try to hear what they were saying.

"We're already under scrutiny," one of the scientist-looking guys was saying. "I used my hosts influence at the lab to get this boat out here in the first place, but I have raised suspicion. In addition to our real purpose out here, I will have to have results for the humans at the lab as well."

I realized I was listening to a Controller, and my blood ran cold the way it usually did when it was shoved in my face that Yeerks were actually stealing human bodies. There's a difference between knowing it's so and seeing it firsthand.

The other scientist controller was agreeing with the first. "It took considerable effort to infiltrate the Black Hole laboratories. We should not be wasting that progress on a...whim...of the Visser's."

The accountant-looking guy laughed. It was not a nice laugh. "I'll forget you said that, Porund 422. That sounded dangerously like you were second guessing Visser Three."

"No! No, I would never!" the scientist said quickly. The accountant walked away quickly, as if he didn't want to be associated with the guy who'd just questioned Visser Three. He turned to the other scientist. "I want off of this assignment," he said angrily. "Visser Three orders me to get this boat out here. He orders my men to post security. Then when Sub-Visser Eight communicates with me, he screams at me for jeopardizing my cover! This is a winless situation."

The other scientist starting backing slowly away from the one who was complaining, and after a moment I saw why. A seagull from my own perch had glided down to the deck and was changing. As the gull bulged and swelled, my stomach seemed to do the same. The white and black feathers started merging and turning blue. The complaining scientist had an expression of horror on his face, and he seemed to be frozen in place in terror.

(Guys!) I hissed in thought-speech, even though I kept it private so only they could hear. (It's Visser Three! He's here!)

(I hate that guy,) Marco tried to joke, but even in thought-speech it sounded flat. He sounded scared.

An Andalite continued to emerge from the seagull's body. (So, Porund 422,) the Visser said. He said it casually, but there was an undertone of rage and madness, as there usually was when the Visser spoke. (This is a whim, is it? You think I am jeopardizing the invasion? /My/ invasion?) Visser Three, fully Andalite, got in the guy's face.

(You want off of this assignment?) he asked quietly. The guy was too terrified to respond. I knew what was coming.

That dangerous Andalite tail flashed, and I closed my eyes. I heard a thud as the body hit the steel deck. (There. There's your reassignment.)

(He's insane,) Rachel said in disbelief. (He's not just evil, he's insane.)

Not even Marco said anything. Not so much as a 'duh.' We were all too shocked at what had just happened.

Visser Three raised his 'voice.' (Does anyone else wish to be reassigned?) he shouted to the controllers on deck. (No? Then I suggest you dispose of this traitor and get back to work!)

(I can't do this,) I said. I spread my wings to fly away. This wasn't something I could do. I'd just seen a helpless human slave get murdered because of an off-color remark the Yeerk inside of his head made him say.

(Cassie, we're already out here,) Marco said. (If we leave now, we won't know any more about what they're doing. We'll just have to come back.)

I couldn't stop thinking about the man below me, who was being dragged off the deck like a piece of garbage. I couldn't stop thinking about what his family would do when he didn't come home for dinner. (I don't care!) I yelled. I had the sense to only yell it to Marco, Jake, and Rachel, but I still yelled. (I don't want to be here! I don't want to know what they're doing! And I'm not coming back! I can't do this!) I spread my wings and flew from the boat, back toward the shore. Back toward home.

(Let her go,) Jake said. (Cassie? I'll come see you later.) His voice was full of care, and it made me even more upset for some reason. I didn't respond.

I just went home.


End file.
